CHAPTER XIII

The Convent Case at Lewes-Charges against the Rev. J. M. NealeRiot at Lewes at the burial of a Sister of Mercy-Bishop of Chichester's letters to Mr. Scobell and the Mother Superior-The Bishop withdraws his patronage from St. Margaret's, East Grinstead-Threatening the Bishop-Mr. Neale's pamphlet-His underhand conduct-Confession on the sly-The Case of the Rev. Alfred Poole His licence withdrawn - His admissions - Remarkable assertions at a Communicants' Meeting-Mr. Poole appeals to the Archbishop of Canterbury-His Judgment-The Lavington CaseRomanising books-Theological Colleges-Attack upon Cuddesdon College-Mr. Golightly's Facts and Documents Showing the Alarming State of the Diocese of Oxford-An exciting controversy. SOME events of minor importance, but not without interest, have now to be recorded. Considerable excitement was created at Lewes, Sussex, towards the close of the year 1857, in consequence of the publication of a pamphlet by the Rev. John Scobell, Rector of All Saints, Lewes, and Hon. Canon of Chichester, containing serious charges against the Rev. J. M. Neale, Chaplain and Father Confessor of St. Margaret's, East Grinstead, Sisterhood. These charges were first privately made in a letter addressed to Mr. Neale by Mr. Scobell, in February 1857, and were as follows:

"1. That you have been carrying on by letter, under cover to the Mistress of my Infants' School, a clandestine correspondence with my eldest daughter while in my house.

"2. That you hold clandestine and secret meetings with her, of some hours' duration, in the private apartments of my Infants' Schoolhouse, situate in my parish of All Saints, Lewes.

"3. That you there usurp, dishonourably and unlawfully, the office of parish priest of All Saints, Lewes; wearing a surplice; exercising Liturgical offices; receiving Confession and pronouncing Absolution.

"4. That you assume to yourself, and allow yourself to be viewed by my daughter and parishioner in the character of her

spiritual guide and adviser, to my detriment as her natural parent and lawful parish priest; that you receive in that character, at her hands, the letters of me, her father, for your perusal; that you animadvert, and dictate how they shall be replied to-how far complied with-how far resisted.

"5. That you seek to hold and keep up a lasting spiritual influence over my daughter living in my house. That you seek to guide her future course of life. That your advice is to her, that she quit my house, that she persevere in demanding my consent to so doing, and that she join and give herself, and whatever income or property she may have, to an establishment, at or near East Grinstead, or some other similar establishment; and, under your guidance and tutelage, there to resign her will, her person, her services, her property, to your or others' will and pleasure.

"6. That in the prosecution of these designs you have never made one word of communication to me, her natural parent, the guide of her youth, and constituted spiritual pastor; that the whole is clandestinely and surreptitiously carried on and continued now by letter during her absence from home, to the injury of my family peace and to the infringement of my public rights.

"I make these charges distinctly and deliberately, and I ask for your distinct and definite reply."1

Mr. Neale formally acknowledged the receipt of Mr. Scobell's letter, stating that he declined replying to his questions, although his silence was not to be taken as an acquiescence in the correctness of his statements, but as taken from motives "of the most friendly character towards" Mr. Scobell.

The facts of the case were not made public until the following December, after the funeral of Mr. Scobell's daughter, who died at St. Margaret's, East Grinstead, from fever, on November 13, 1857, after she had been a Sister there for a few months. Great indignation was felt at Lewes when some of the circumstances became known, immediately after the young lady's death, and with the result that at her funeral, on November 18th-which took place at Lewes-something approaching to a riot took place. At the conclusion of the funeral service, the body having been buried in a vault within the Church, a dis

The Rev. J. M. Neale and the Institute of St. Margaret's, East Grinstead. Statement by the Rev. J. Scobell, p. 9. London: Nisbet & Co. 1857.

THE LEWES RIOTS

365

graceful attack was made upon Mr. Neale and the Sisters of Mercy who accompanied him. Amid cries of "No Popery," Mr. Neale was knocked down, and parts of the dresses of the Sisters were torn off, the whole party from East Grinstead being hustled about by the mob, until rescued by the police. Such conduct on the part of the Protestants was, I believe, wholly without excuse, and was a disgrace to the cause it was ostensibly got up to promote. There was grave cause for public indignation, but not for mob violence on defenceless women.

About three weeks after this riot Mr. Scobell published the pamphlet containing the six charges against Mr. Neale, which I have quoted above. Meanwhile Mr. Scobell had received from the Bishop of Chichester a letter of sympathy, dated November 22nd:-"You may," wrote his lordship, "be well assured of the deep-felt sympathy of every upright candidly religious man. I beg to offer you and your family the sincere expression of mine and Mrs. Gilbert's. I have felt it my duty to write to the Lady Superioress and the Society of St. Margaret's at East Grinstead, the letter, with a copy of which I thus briefly intrude upon your sorrows. He must be heartless who could have permitted himself to add to them as that infatuated man from East Grinstead has done" (that is, Mr. Neale). To the Mother Superior of the Sisterhood the Bishop wrote as follows:

1

PALACE, CHICHESTER, Nov. 21, 1857. MADAM,-Your Society was first formed as an association of ladies, who should engage themselves and train others to minister to the bodily wants of their fellow-Christians, by nursing them in sickness. Such an institution I regarded as praiseworthy and Christian in its object, and I authorised the use of my name in connection with it. It has for some time past submitted itself to the unlimited influence of Mr. Neale, a clergyman, in whose views and practices it is well known I have no confidence. Especially it is well known that I deny that the Church of England sanctions the habitual practice of Confession. She acknowledges it only in rare and exceptional cases, and Mr. Neale is unwarranted in using it in

The Rev. J. M. Neale and the Institute of St. Margaret's, East Grinstead. Statement by the Rev. J. Scobell, p. 13. The Lewes Riots. A Letter to the Bishop of Chichester. By the Rev. J. M. Neale, p. 36, 5th edition. London : Masters. 1857.

the frequent and regular way in which he applies it. Those who admit such application of it to themselves, manifest thereby the inadequacy of their direct faith in Christ's promises. Their resort to this unauthorised remedy, by a righteous retribution, issues in a continuous increase of weakness, and an accumulation of obstructions in the way of the true influences of grace upon their hearts. They trust more and more in man, and are less and less able, without man, to hope in Christ, i.e. truly hope in Him. I desire, therefore, that henceforth neither you nor any of your Sisterhood will state that I approve of, or have any connection with, your Institution and Sisterhood of S. Margaret's. I desire that any circulars or printed copies of your rules in which my name is introduced, may be cancelled and not used with my name in future. Whatever expense is brought upon the Institution by the consequent loss of the copies you may have by you, I will fully repay. I remain, Madam, your faithful Pastor,

(Signed)

"MISS GREAME, or the Lady Superioress of S. Margaret's, East Grinstead."

"A. T. CICEStr.

On Sunday, November 29th, Mr. Scobell preached in All Saints' Church, Lewes, a special sermon on the treatment his deceased daughter had received at the hands of Mr. Neale, in the course of which he announced his intention to publish a narrative of what had taken place. On December 3rd the Mother Superior of St. Margaret's Convent appeared at the door of the Palace of the Bishop of Chichester, and sent in a letter requesting an interview. This document has the appearance of having been written under dread of Mr. Scobell's forthcoming pamphlet. It was, in fact, a threatening letter, evidently written in the hope of frightening the Bishop into using his influence to prevent Mr. Scobell publishing his exposure. "Mr. Neale," wrote the Mother Superior to the Bishop, in the letter which she handed in at the door, "is extremely anxious to spare the feelings of that unhappy parent, and he hoped that after I had seen you, an arrangement would be made by which the public might be disabused of their false impressions without an exposure in the papers." I do not wonder that the Bishop refused to see a lady who brought him such a threatening letter. But he wrote her

1 The Lewes Riots. By the Rev. J. M. Neale, p. 37.

A PRIEST'S CLANDESTINE CORRESPONDENCE

367 a letter, which has not been published, to which the Mother Superior sent a rude and sneering reply. On December 2nd Mr. Neale himself wrote to the Bishop, expressing a hope that he would not compel him, "in absolute self-defence, to expose Mr. Scobell." But the Bishop would not yield, so in a letter, bearing date December 4, 1857, Mr. Neale published his "exposure" of Mr. Scobell. In this pamphlet Mr. Neale quotes numerous documents, amongst them being one he wrote to Miss Scobell, on January 21, 1855, containing the following statement:-"I should advise you to act thus. To tell your father (perhaps it would be better to write it) that, while you shall always be ready to go to the very furthest length you can in obeying him, there are some points on which you feel that you have a higher duty. That you feel that you need that counsel from a priest, and that Absolution which the Church clearly allows you to have; that you intend, however painful it must be to disobey him, to avail yourself of it." 2 On February 22, 1855, he wrote to her:-"I cannot feel happy about the state in which matters stand as regards your father. It is a sad necessity (if it be a necessity) for me to write, as this letter must be sent, under cover, to a third person." 3 Again, on the following November 27th he wrote to her:-"This kind of correspondence ought not to go on, because it is in your power to end it. Only be firm now, only insist on an answer, and one way or the other it will be terminated. I never direct to you under cover to Miss Parker without pain." It may have caused him pain, but he continued to do it. The Miss Parker here mentioned was Mr. Scobell's Infant Schoolmistress. These letters, from which I have just quoted (published by Mr. Neale himself), fully prove Mr. Scobell's charge against him of "carrying on, by letter, under cover to the Mistress of my Infants' School, a clandestine correspondence with my daughter while in my house." Mr. Neale did not dare to deny that he had "secret meetings" with Miss Scobell in her father's Infant School House, or that he there, vested in surplice, 1 The Lewes Riots. By the Rev. J. M. Neale, p. 39. 2 Ibid. p. 10. 3 Ibid. p. 10.